Reese Witherspoon is attempting something of a comeback this year, as she's got three movies coming out in the fall season, Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice, Jean Marc-Vallee's Wild, and this one, a true story about an American woman who helped four Sudanese refugees make it in America. It's from the producers of The Blind Side and to be honest it looks a little similar to that movie. It's coming out October 3rd:
REVIEW: "The Lego Movie" (2014) Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks. Dir. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
You gotta hand it to this new writing/directing duo of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street). Would anyone walk into a movie about the adventures of animated legos and think it wouldn't turn out to be a corporate advertisement for the toy product alone? I certainly wouldn't, and I couldn't have been more pleasantly surprised, as The Lego Movie is in fact a delightful, wickedly funny and mile a minute meta heavy madcap romp through the Lego universe, with only a minimum of commercial advertizing involved (can't get away from it entirely- the movie does want to make you buy and play with some legos, and I'm sure that worked to the manufacturing company's benefit).
But there is a high energy, creative force at work behind it anyway, and the movie feels unlike the usual safe, sweet, typical animated features that come out every year, solely about triumphing over adversity (the only message that is ever imparted by an animated film for the most part). This movie is actually a celebration of both individualism and collectivism (that's right, simultaneously). Set in the brightly colored world of legos, our protagonist is an everyman, Emmet (voiced with sly enthusiasm by Chris Pratt, of TV's Parks and Recreation), who fits into the world around him so easily that his friends describe him as a nobody with no particular ideas or interests whatsoever. He doesn't question authority and subscribes to the doctrine of "instructions" by the land's evil leader, President Business (Will Ferrell), whose goal is to force everyone to be wrung from a similar cloth in personality, attitude, etc. so that he can ultimately rule over the citizens and eventually "freeze" them all in place. There is an underground group of rebels who set out to stop him of course, and Emmet accidentally falls into this crowd when he stumbles onto a construction site and apprehends "the piece of resistance," which all the rebels assume makes him the chosen one they've been waiting for- "The Special," who was foretold to them in a prophecy imparted by the great one (Morgan Freeman, who else?)
So now Emmet has to prove his worth and we're taken on a wild ride through all the different lego universes as the various familiar lego toys (there are appearances by Batman, Superman and the Star Wars guys) show up and form a ragtag group to save the universe. Throughout all of this we're treated to a mad-dash pace of zaniness and jokes tossed at you a mile a minute (I know I missed some), with the typical pop culture and meta-references thrown in for good measure (Liam Neeson plays a "bad cop" in a riff off his Taken personality, while Will Arnett's Batman tosses in asides to his most recent Dark Knight persona). If the original Shrek was the first movie to go all in with inside jokes aimed at the audience's knowledge and familiarity with the outside world of fairy tales, this is that kind of humor on steroids. It makes me wonder if we can ever go back to the un-ironic, non-winking at the camera kind of entertainment again, or if this is the new normal, and movies are now in a forever kind of smug conversation with the audience over the things we know, with them telling us how much they know we know.
But it's clever and entertaining anyway, despite the atomic level of self-awareness (Lord and Miller do the same with the Jump Street movies), and the lesson Emmet eventually learns in fact isn't necessarily about his own "specialness," but only that in combination with the talents of others, can they work together as a society to build something truly original and creative. I admit I was taken aback that this endorsement of flat out collectivism turned out to be the message of the movie, but hey, these guys are legos, so it makes sense, right? (Now see if an animated film would ever dare to convey the same message regarding human society- that'll be the day). The final twist on the world of the legos, while clever and involving a cameo appearance whose very presence never fails to make audiences smile, kind of puts the movie in direct placement as a feature length ad for Legos, as I said earlier, but I guess it's alright. By that point we've probably had enough of this world for now. But if 95 minutes is a more than adequate stay in the Lego World, just wait until the inevitable sequels turn this creatively refreshing movie into a franchise cash cow the way the Shrek sequels sullied the first one. However, since that day's not yet here, feel free to enjoy this while it lasts.
* * *
TRAILER: "The Judge"
Robert Downey Jr. stars in a non-Iron Man movie, and it's a drama of all things. Been a while since we've seen that, right? This looks like kind of a sentimental tearjerker on first glance, but who knows, maybe it'll be good. RDJ is a lawyer who has to go back to his hometown and defend his estranged dad (Robert Duvall) on a murder charge. They've got some good people in the cast anyway. It's coming out October 10th.
POSTER: "Frank"
Here's the poster for Frank, the weird indie comedy coming out in August with Michael Fassbender as the rocker who wears a giant Jack in the Box-esque plastic head. Sounds bizarre (and it is, even though it's based on a true story) but the movie got great reviews both at Sundance, where it debuted and again at SIFF a couple weeks ago. It comes out August 22nd.
FINAL TRAILER: "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes"
Looks awesome! The last trailer for what's really the last anticipated blockbuster movie of the summer (they pretty much all came out before July this year) is here. I can't wait to see it. Coming out July 11th.
TRAILER: "The Expendables 3"
The new trailer for The Expendables 3 is here, otherwise known as Sylvester Stallone's ongoing project to keep his over the hill former action hero pals (and apparently Kelsey Grammer) employed (or at least the ones willing to settle for a "mere" couple million dollars, unlike Bruce Willis was for the last one). The actual fans of this series are supposedly upset that this one got the PG-13 rating, which I guess is valid. I mean, the only thing this franchise is about is watching these guys explode shit and kill people in the most violent ways possible, so why water that part down? It's coming out August 15th, if you're into this (clearly, I'm not a fan).
FEATURETTE: "Begin Again"
A look behind the scenes at Begin Again, from John Carney (the director of Once), coming out next Friday in limited release. This shows how Keira Knightley did in fact do her own singing for this movie, and she's not bad. It's weird how some people can sound completely different in their speaking and singing voices and others not at all.
Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "Picnic at Hanging Rock" (1975)
A really terrific movie is out on blu-ray today- a mysterious and elegiac mood piece from the great Australian director Peter Weir, and this is one of his earliest films. Picnic at Hanging Rock tells the story of four teenage girls in turn of the century Australia who suddenly vanish one day into the strangely beckoning rocks of the Outback, and no one can figure out what happened to them. Was it real? Is it an allegory for female subjugation in the early 1900's? Or something else entirely? See if you can break through the silence when you watch it- Weir gives us no answers, only unsettling and provocative questions and atmosphere. You can't miss this one, it's one of the great films of the 1970's.
Original 1975 Trailer:
TRAILER: "The Equalizer"
Denzel Washington reunites with Training Day director Antoine Fuqua for his latest thriller, based on the 1980's TV show that ran on CBS for four seasons. He's kind of like a vigilante ex-cop who enacts his own personal justice on criminals. There's nobody better than Denzel in these types of righteous, badass roles, so I have to admit I thought this looked kinda good (in a guilty pleasure kind of way). It's coming out September 26th:
REVIEW: "Edge of Tomorrow" (2014) Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt. Dir. Doug Liman
The best videogame movie not based on a videogame. That was my immediate reaction after watching Edge of Tomorrow, the latest Tom Cruise action sci-fi adventure that manages to recycle several elements of themes that have been done before (war battles, alien invasions, the Groundhog Day-esque reliving the same day over again), into a surprisingly enjoyable exercise in spite of the obvious gimmicky touches at work.
The film's based on a novel called All You Need is Kill, by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, and stars the eternal Tom Cruise as Maj. William Cage, a media relations officer in a future where Earth has been invaded by aliens and we're at constant war with these big, purplish, Matrixy-looking, rubber "mimics" that have spider-like poles for arms and kill you almost instantly, as far as I can tell. Cage is a cowardly phony who's never been in battle himself, so when General Brendan Gleeson orders him into the field with the "J-Squad" led by an amusingly hammy Bill Paxton (is there any other kind?), he does everything he can to get out of it, but fails and falls into the massive D-Day invasion (we're actually invading France again, in a nod to WWII I suppose) completely unprepared and at a loss for what to do. Since he's strapped into a hulking mechanical armor suit that's got some automatic weapons attached, he does however manage to kill at least one mimic, almost by accident, while the slaughter's taking place. This one though, was an "Alpha," which he finds out is a special kind of alien that transferred its powers to him when it died, which means every time Cage himself dies, the day resets and he has to live it all over again.
Okay so it's a familiar premise, but one that you can usually get a lot of mileage out of if done right, which it more or less is here. Tom Cruise harnesses a playful, bewildered sense of humor and it's amusing to see him purposely figuring out ways to die when he knows he has to start over, but even the terms "reset" and "start over" immediately bring to mind battle videogames where you have to keep figuring out the steps in order to get to the next level. Cage must do exactly that, and he needs the help of the war's most decorated soldier, Rita Vertasky (Emily Blunt), who gets to play a pretty kickass female action heroine, who once was doused in the Alpha's blood herself and relived her glory on the battlefield until she got it right. Rita believes his story and trains him until he becomes the indefatigable Tom Cruise hero we all know and love, and together the two keep going after the Omega (the head alien) which is kind of like the Mother alien who will shut down all the little babies once it's put out of commission. Or in other words, the boss level, right?
The humor works, there's a nice chemistry between Cruise and Blunt (even if it's slightly annoying that at 53 years old, the male movie star can only be partnered with a woman 20 years his junior and never let's say, someone his own age), and the action is relentless and pounds you into submission, even if I wouldn't say there's a whole lot of stunts or special effects in this that you haven't actually seen before. Certainly battling invading aliens at this point is something that happens in at least one action film every summer, but Doug Liman helms a fast-paced, slick and most importantly, fun thrill ride that gives you just what you want from these kinds of movies. And the gimmick and videogame aspect to it shows how you can actually make that kind of material work, as long as you have the right star in the lead, one that audiences will follow anywhere. It is kind of cool to see Cruise evolve from shallow jerk to competent soldier, and it's believable that anyone might do that themselves once you take away the factor that prevents people from constantly living on the edge- the fear of death. Edge of Tomorrow is all kinetic action, humor and thrills by the minute- and also just clever enough to give it a solid pass as a worthy entry in this year's summer blockbuster canon.
* * *
Movie of the Day: "Finding Nemo" (2003)
One of Pixar's most beloved classics is an excellent Father's Day choice, as this movie follows devoted dad Marlin (brilliantly voiced by Albert Brooks) as he darts through all the dangers of the Great Barrier Reef to find his little son Nemo, who's been snatched up by scubadivers and taken to Sydney, Australia. This is one of the most emotional films in the Pixar canon, but still has all the humor and visual wonder that makes it one of the most emblematic of the studio when it was at its best in the 2000's. Ellen Degeneres provides the voice of Marlin's nutty tagalong pal Dory (who's now getting a sequel movie based around her coming out in 2016) and the two characters together created an iconic movie duo that's been loved by kids ever since. You can't go wrong with this one.
Trailer:
TRAILER #2: "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For"
The second trailer for the Sin City sequel makes it look pretty good actually. It looks to be reuniting much of the cast from the 2005 original (Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Mickey Rourke) with new actors including Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Eva Green. It's hard to say what the interest level in this is though- even the first one had limited appeal at best. The movie's coming out August 22nd:
